1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for counting bundled notes, especially banknotes, according to the pre-characterizing clause of patent claim 1.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known counting apparatuses of this type, which are use especially as banknote counters, work with a rapidly rotating disc, on the periphery of which the separating elements are arranged. Banknote counters of this type are used, above all, in the further processing of banknotes fresh from printing, which, after they have been numbered and cut to size, are combined to form banded packets, each with, for example, 100 or even 1000 consecutively numbered banknotes. These banknote packets must be checked for completeness before packaging, and because of modern and largely fully automatic processing this counting has to be carried out very quickly. These banknote counters therefore have a very high counting speed which can amount to 200 banknotes per second.
It has been shown, however, that the known banknote counters working with a rotating disc do not operate as reliably as would be desirable. In the most frequent counting error, two banknotes resting on top of one another are sucked up by the suction face of a separating element and are therefore counted as only one note. After the counting of the particular packet has ended, the counting result can therefore imply that one or more banknotes are missing in this packet, and consequently this packet has to be removed from the further processing sequence and counted once again, this usually being done by hand, before it is found that this packet is nevertheless complete. These checks which are required because of defective counting and which are then shown to be unnecessary and frequently result in an interruption of the entire processing rhythm lower the daily work output of the processing installation, necessitate needless manual involvement and are time-consuming. Of the various automatic processing stations used in modern banknote production, counting stations where the bundled banknote packets are checked for completeness have generally hitherto had the relatively highest susceptibility to faults and therefore constitute as it were the bottleneck in the entire modern banknote production process.
The reasons for the relatively low counting accuracy which depends on the paper quality is that, during individual separation, the banknote to be counted is grasped by the suction face in the form of a segment of an arc of a separating element at only one corner of the banknote packet and this corner is bent round to only a very slight extent. The amount by which this corner of a banknote is lifted off from the remaining banknote packet and separated is therefore very small, and this, on the one hand, leads frequently to separating errors and, on the other hand, makes it difficult to detect the individual note reliably during counting, this usually being carried out optically. Separating errors arise because the corner of the note located immediately behind the banknote to be counted is bent round together with this as a result of the suction effect which reaches it too and/or as a result of a certain mutual adhesion of the notes resting on one another.
Also, the production of the hitherto known counting discs with the specially shaped separating elements arranged along their periphery is somewhat complicated and costly, above all when these counting discs are designed as integral castings.